China: Under The Chinese Patent Law, The Following Three Types Of Patents Are Protected: Patents For Invention, Utility Model, And Design

For a foreign applicant, two routes are available for filing a
patent application in China: one route is through the Paris
Convention; the other is through the Patent Cooperation Treaty
(i.e., going through the formalities of national phase entry of a
PCT application in China within 30 months from the international
filing date (or the earliest priority date where applicable)).

The case with a PCT route application is applicable to a patent
application for invention or utility model, but not applicable to a
patent application for design.

With the economic development and opening up of China in the
past years, the number of patent applications filed by foreign
applicants in China is swelling. In 2008 the number of patent
applications for invention filed by foreign applicants in China
reached 95,259, and in 2009 it is still maintained at 85,477
despite the critical influence of the global financial crisis. On
the other hand, the number of applications filed by domestic
applicants in China is much larger and also growing at a steady
pace.

An annual increase is also seen in the number and ratio of
applications filed in China through the PCT route. Among all the
patent applications for invention and utility model by foreign
applicants handled by China Sinda in 2006, the percentage of those
through the PCT route is 54%, and it increased to 64% in 2009. It
is foreseeable that this ratio will further increase since PCT
applications have great advantages. One main advantage is that
applicants will have much more buffer time (i.e., 30 months) to
evaluate whether to enter a national phase, and the applicant can
further use a grace period of two months if the 30 months is not
enough.

Meanwhile, the number of applications filed by the Chinese
applicants in foreign countries is also growing rapidly, especially
via the route of PCT international applications.

In 2009 China ranked the 5th, a great leap from a near bottom
ranking in 2000.

In terms of technical fields, the PCT international applications
filed by Chinese applicants are largely clustered around certain
areas. According to the statistics, the top five technical fields
having the largest application volumes are: electric communication
technique (h04); medical or veterinary science, hygiene (a61);
organic chemistry (c07); biochemistry, beer, spirits, wine;
microbiology; enzymology; mutation or genetic engineering (c12);
and computing, calculating, counting (g06). The aggregate amount of
these five numbers accounts for 78.69% of the total PCT
applications.

Besides, the Chinese Ministry of Finance and the State
Intellectual Property Office jointly adopted a preferential policy
in 2009, which encourages Chinese companies and organisations to
file patent applications abroad through the PCT route. It is
believed that under the guidance of this policy, the volume of PCT
applications field by Chinese applicants will expand to a greater
extent.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.

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The Patents Act 1970, along with the Patents Rules 1972, came into force on 20th April 1972, replacing the Indian Patents and Designs Act 1911. The Patents Act was largely based on the recommendations of the Ayyangar Committee Report headed by Justice N. Rajagopala Ayyangar. One of the recommendations was the allowance of only process patents with regard to inventions relating to drugs, medicines, food and chemicals.

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